Sabres Stun Bruins, Habs Steal In OT, Mammoth Try To Answer Across Four NHL Game 2s

The Montreal Canadiens lead the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 after stealing Game 1 in overtime on Sunday night. Tampa Bay opens Game 2 as a -194 moneyline favorite with Montreal at +160. The total sits at 6.5 with the over at +116 and the under at -142. The Lightning are the Game 2 favorite despite losing Game 1 because the underlying five-on-five shot volume favored Tampa Bay across regulation and the overtime period, and the Canadiens needed Sam Montembeault to produce the kind of goaltending that carried them through two rounds of low-event playoff hockey in 2024. Home-ice Game 2 environments historically favor the team that lost Game 1 at Benchmark International Arena at roughly a 58 percent rate.

Nick Suzuki's line played the top matchup role against Nikita Kucherov all night in Game 1, and the Canadiens' ability to keep Kucherov off the scoresheet in a three-hour playoff game is the kind of defensive outcome that doesn't replicate easily. Kucherov is a 100-point regular-season producer who typically finds one or two clean looks per game even against elite coverage, and Tampa's Game 2 adjustments almost certainly involve more quick pucks up to him off the rush rather than waiting for set-up opportunities in the halfcourt. Lane Hutson's mobility and transition play has been Montreal's most underrated playoff asset, and his ability to initiate offense from the blue line creates the kind of rush chances that Tampa's veteran defenders were not prepared for.

Andrei Vasilevskiy at this level of his career is still a top-five playoff goaltender in the league. His Game 1 line was solid across 32 saves, but the overtime winner from Montembeault's end of the ice shifted the series math. Vasilevskiy's Game 2 bounce-back track record in playoff contexts where his team lost Game 1 is above the league average, and the Lightning's power play has multiple elite setups that didn't convert in Game 1. Montreal's penalty kill was 88 percent in the regular season, which is the kind of efficiency that doesn't hold through an entire seven-game series against this level of Tampa Bay special-teams personnel.

The Canadiens' path to pushing the series to 2-0 starts with Montembeault producing another 28-to-30 save performance and the top-six forwards getting Kucherov off the puck in the neutral zone. Tampa's path to evening the series is Kucherov scoring, Brayden Point producing a multi-point game, and Jon Cooper's in-series adjustments on zone entries shutting down Montreal's rush offense. The 6.5 total is the cleanest read on the expected scoring environment. Both goaltenders are playing at a high level. Both defenses are structured for low-event hockey. Puck drop 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2.

The Buffalo Sabres shocked the Boston Bruins in Game 1 with one of the most dramatic third-period rallies in NHL playoff history. Buffalo scored three goals in a 4:34 span late in the third period to erase a 2-0 deficit and win 4-3 at KeyBank Center on Sunday. Tage Thompson scored twice, including the go-ahead goal, and Mattias Samuelsson provided the equalizer. Alex Tuch added an empty-netter. The Sabres became the eighth team in NHL postseason history to win in regulation after trailing by multiple goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period. It was Buffalo's first playoff home game in 15 years and the building was feral for the final 30 minutes of regulation.

Buffalo opens Game 2 as a -164 moneyline favorite with Boston at +136. The total sits at 6.5 with the over at +110 and the under at -134. The Sabres are the Game 2 favorite because they are the higher-seeded team in the matchup and because the Game 1 comeback established that the Bruins' structural advantages at five-on-five did not translate into a result. Jeremy Swayman produced 34 saves on 37 shots in the Boston net and was not the reason the Bruins lost. The reason was the third-period collapse in which Boston's defensive structure broke down across the three-goal span and nothing in the veteran leadership group could re-establish coverage assignments.

David Pastrnak scored a first-period goal and the Bruins' top-six forwards created enough chances at five-on-five to lead in expected goals for the first 50 minutes of the game. Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm added the other Boston goals. The offensive output was adequate. What the Bruins did not have was a third-period defensive identity that could absorb a sustained Buffalo push. Thompson's two-goal game is the kind of individual performance that shifts series odds, and Lukkonen's goaltending at the other end was good enough to keep Buffalo within striking distance during the 50 minutes where Boston controlled play.

Boston's Game 2 path requires Pastrnak producing a multi-point performance, Swayman reproducing his Game 1 workload at a similar save percentage, and the defensive structure holding together across the 40-through-60-minute window where Game 1 fell apart. Buffalo's path is Thompson continuing to produce, the Sabres' second line creating clean looks against Boston's bottom-pair defenders, and the KeyBank Center crowd reproducing the Game 1 energy from the moment Buffalo scores first. The 6.5 total is fair. The Sabres' ability to push the pace and force Boston into late-clock defensive situations makes the over the cleaner directional lean. Puck drop 7:30 PM ET on ESPN.

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Utah Mammoth 4-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday. Logan Cooley opened the scoring at 19:49 of the first period to give Utah a 1-0 lead. Colton Sissons tied it at 3:44 of the second period. Kevin Stenlund put the Mammoth back ahead 2-1 at 5:07 of the second. Mark Stone and Nic Dowd scored 1:47 apart early in the third period to give Vegas a 3-2 lead, and Ivan Barbashev added an empty-netter. Carter Hart made 31 saves for the Golden Knights. Karel Vejmelka stopped 27 for Utah in the first playoff game in Mammoth franchise history. Utah became the first wild card from the West to play a Stanley Cup Playoff game since the franchise rebrand.

Vegas opens Game 2 as a -162 moneyline favorite with Utah at +150. The puck line is Vegas -1.5 at +160 and Utah +1.5 at -192. The over/under is 6.5 with the over at -135 and the under at +114. The Golden Knights are the Game 2 favorite both by seeding and by the Game 1 comeback. Their ability to score two goals in 1:47 to take a third-period lead is the kind of veteran playoff production that defines Bruce Cassidy's structure in high-leverage situations. Mark Stone's goal on Mitch Marner's pass was a clinical read on a Utah defensive pair that had been chasing pucks in the offensive zone and got caught on the wrong side of a transition play.

Marner's debut as a Vegas Golden Knight in a playoff setting is going to define the series. Acquired in July 2025 from Toronto in the kind of trade that realigned the Pacific Division, Marner's playoff history has been questioned for most of his career, and his Vegas deployment alongside Jack Eichel has produced a top line that finished the regular season with one of the most efficient expected-goals-for percentages in the league. His first playoff assist for Vegas came on the Stone go-ahead goal, and the offensive chemistry he's built with Eichel and Stone is the kind of three-forward alignment that Utah's defensive structure is not equipped to match across a seven-game series.

Utah's Game 2 path requires Vejmelka producing another 28-to-30 save night, Cooley's line generating clean looks against Vegas' bottom-pair defenders, and the power play generating the kind of sustained offensive-zone time that Game 1 did not produce. The Mammoth went 0-for-2 on the man advantage, which is the single easiest lever to pull toward a series tie. Vegas' path is Eichel and Marner producing at their regular-season baseline, Stone continuing to score clutch goals, and Hart reproducing his Game 1 save percentage. The 6.5 total reflects the expected scoring environment. Both teams have power plays that can score in bunches but both goaltenders are playing well enough to shorten shot samples. Puck drop 9:30 PM ET on ESPN2.

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena on Sunday. Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves in his first career Stanley Cup Playoff start. Artturi Lehkonen scored at 15:29 of the second period on a rebound of a Nathan MacKinnon shot past the right leg of Darcy Kuemper. Logan O'Connor doubled the Colorado lead on a neutral-zone turnover breakaway six minutes into the third. Los Angeles pulled one back on the power play with just over two minutes remaining. The Kings' late push fell short as Colorado closed out the one-goal win and took the 1-0 series lead.

Colorado opens Game 2 as a -275 moneyline favorite with Los Angeles at +224. The puck line is Avalanche -1.5 at -108 and Kings +1.5 at -112. The total is 5.5 with the over at +110 and the under at -134. The Avalanche are the heavy Game 2 favorite because they won the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's top regular-season team, Wedgewood's Game 1 start produced the exact workload management Jared Bednar needs against Kings shooter Adrian Kempe, and Ball Arena's altitude advantage is a structural factor that compresses the third-period performance of visiting teams across a 48-hour turnaround.

Nathan MacKinnon's assist on the Lehkonen goal was the structural read on Colorado's offense. He's playing at 110-point regular-season pace and his ability to attack defenders in transition produces the kind of rebound opportunities that Lehkonen converted in Game 1. Cale Makar's defensive contribution extended into his offensive-zone entries, and he created the breakaway opportunity for O'Connor with a stretch pass out of the defensive zone. The Avalanche's forecheck, power play, and defensive identity are all functioning at their playoff ceiling, and Wedgewood's goaltending removed the last question mark that had surrounded the roster heading into the tournament.

The Kings' Game 2 path requires Kuemper producing a 30-plus save performance, Quinton Byfield producing a multi-point game against the Avalanche's checking line, and a power-play efficiency that scores more than the single late-game goal in Game 1. Adrian Kempe has to generate more rush chances at five-on-five. Anze Kopitar's playoff experience has to manifest in faceoff wins that produce clean offensive-zone possessions. Colorado's depth across four lines is the structural advantage that Los Angeles has to match. The 5.5 total projects under if Wedgewood reproduces Game 1 and over if the Kings' power play converts more than once. Puck drop 10:00 PM ET on ESPN.